Painted hedgehogs to be given microchips

A Guernsey charity is microchipping injured hedgehogs to make them easier to identify. Steve Byrne, GSPCA manager, said previously it had tagged and painted the animals to keep track of them, but the tags fell off and paint faded.



He said the chips allowed them to track injured animals over their lifetime. Mr Byrne said since the island's hedgehog rescue centre closed in November 2011 the shelter had dealt with more than 400 injured animals.

The hedgehog is listed as an endangered species in the UK as the population has reduced by a third since 2000. There are no figures for the hedgehog population in the island. Mr Byrne said the chips were a permanent form of identification as they last for 20 years and a hedgehog's lifetime was "normally about half of that".



The first two chipped hedgehogs are due to be released later. Mr Byrne said one had recovered from mange and the other had been brought in as it was active during the day. He said: "We plan to continue using the paint and tag methods so if the public spot a hedgehog released by the shelter they can report it."